​Our first dog – inherited from Brother – was named Morgan. Morgan was always doing very stupid things. At the time, I had a co-worker named Morgan who was also always doing very stupid things. It got confusing during “Tell me about your day.” story time with Husband because he was never clear which stupid Morgan I was speaking about. Hence dog Morgan’s new name, Morgan the Dog.

When we got Tigger the Dog, she was called Sabrina. Husband was not a fan of shouting, “Sabrina! Come!” And TTD was not a calm and princess-like a Sabrina should be. A name change was in order. We went with Tigger, which we thought was an appropriate choice because of her ADHD manic personality. She was and is a bouncy, bouncy, neurotic mess of a dog. But, we had to add ‘the Dog’ part because she was so not a “bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun.” stripy lion. People were confused that she wasn’t a cat. People have a hard time with the different.

And now we have Pepper, who is a dog but seems to be partly schizophrenic. And thinks she’s a cat. She’s independent like a cat. She is wicked smart, like a cat. She has weird bathroom habits like a cat. And, she is affectionate like a cat – until she’s not. Then she’s a wild lion, all teeth and fur. And those teeth are sharp. Not that she’s bitten us; just that she shows them and you can see the gleam off the shiny poky tips.